Serial numbers are for the first piano made in year shown. The company was eventually aquired by the American Piano Company.
It seems that the companies building the stencil pianos refused to place their names anywhere on the instruments.Factory Location: Boston, Massachusettes Serial Number Dates: 1853 -? History: The Vose & Sons Piano Company was established in 1851, manufacturing pianos for over a century and a half. Most of these bogus attempts to rip off the actual makers name happened in the early part of the twentieth century.Īnd force the makers to put their name on their pianos. Hallet, Davis Hamilton Hammond Hampton Hardman, Peck Harrington Harvard Hastings Hazelton Heintzman Heller Henkelman Heppe Herbert, Henry Hermann Herrburger Brooks Hertz Hews, George Hindsburg, H. He founded the “Aeolian Organ and Music Company” around 1888 the firm achieved considerable success with larger instruments and organs.His son took over in 1899 and immediately set about to apply his own business acumen to the company’s affairs.One example of an actual stencil is Steinvey, which looks almost like Steinway. Name brands built in East Rochester include Chickering & Sons, J & C Fischer, Wm. All Baldwin Upright or Vertical Pianos – Does not include Hamilton Studios or Baldwin Grand Pianos.
With four page color advertisements (almost unheard of in that day) published in the popular magazines, he literally stunned the piano industry with the message that here, indeed, was the answer to everyone’s prayer for music in the home!Below is a helpful list of serial numbers from different manufacturers, and their corresponding years: ACROSONIC (Baldwin Uprights and Verticals, Classic, Ellington, Franke, Howard before 1959, Kremlin, Manuelo, Modello, Monarch, St. Schiedmayer Schiller Schimmel Schirmer Schmoller & Mueller Schubert Schulz Schumann Sears Seeburg Seiler, Ed Selectra Settergren Sextrolla Seybold Shanghai Piano Co.Tremaine and Pianola built an enormous business empire over the next thirty years.It wasn’t long after the turn of the century that it was deemed desirable to “miniaturize” the clumsy Pianola and other similar, instruments so that they could be built directly inside the pianos. Raymond Reed & Sons Regal Pianos Regent Rembrandt Remington Reprotone Rhodes- Fender-Keyboard Instruments Ricca & Son Richardson Richmond Ridgeway Rieger Kloss Rippen Piano Co. Knight, Alfred Kohler Kohler & Campbell Koth-Bayer Krakauer Bros. Howard Acrosonic Howard Manualo Howard Howes & Son, Charles Huntington Hupfeld, Ledwig Hyundai K Karn Kaufmann Kawai Keller Bros. Many names are owned by various existing piano companies that are not currently (2012) using some of them on their instruments.It's possible that in the future some will be used again. Decker & Sons Deitemeir De Kalb Detmer, Henry Diapason Dietmann Disklavier Doherty Piano & Organ Company Doll & Sons, Jacob Dongbei Piano Group Duo-Art Pianola Reproducing Piano H Haddorf Haines Bros. Cable & Sons California Pre-Piano Challen Pianos, Chas. Burger & Jacob Bush & Gerts Bush & Lane Butler Bros Byrne Piano Co C Cabaret Cable, Hobart M. Bergmann Berlin Piano and Organ Berry, Nathaniel Betting, Th. Weydig Wheelock Whelpdale Maxwell & Codd LTD Whitman Whitmore Whitney Wilfred Willard Williams Willis Wilson Winter Winton Wissner Woodbury Woodchester World Sales Promotion Co.Some piano dealers were that devious(and maybe some still are). Davenport - Treacy Davis & Son Daynes - Beebe Daytron De Blaise Decker Bros. Bogart Bohemia Bond Bord, Antonie Borgato Bosendorfer Boston Bradbury Bradley Brambach Braumuller Bremen Brentwood Brewster Briggs Brinkerhoff Brinsmead & Son, John Broadwood & Sons, John Burgasser & Co. Blondel, G Bluthner, Julius Boardman & Gray Boernhoeft, J. First, a how-to on where to find the serial number of your piano.Sometimes these names were misspellings of famous companies with the intentions of capitalizing on the famous name. Upright pianos will have their serial numbers either painted onto the cast iron backplate, or stamped into the pinblock underneath.